Slash - Orgy Of The Damned
(Snakepit Records, 2024)
First, Slash’s Orgy Of The Damned is so over-the-top it should be in orbit around the sun. Second, it is a throbbing testosterone-fueled blues-rock exposition, taut as a flexed muscle. And, third, it is one hell of a lot of fun. With a couple of exceptions, this recording is comfortably predictable, and that is okay. Baby Boomers make up much of the target demographic for this release, with Papa Slash knowing exactly how to cater to it. Chris Robinson’s “The Pusher,” “Crossroads,” featuring Gary Clark, Jr. and Billy Gibbons’ on “Hoochie Coochie Man” color within the lines, with those lines blurring on Paul Rodgers’ performance of “Born Under A Bad Sign.” These performances will please just about anyone, just as they were intended to.
The recording has two misfires: Chris Stapleton’s hillbilly-inflected “Oh Well” and Beth Hart’s overwrought “Stormy Monday.” The Peter Green classic is just an awe-shucks moment, while Hart self immolates in her effort to make T-Bone Walker’s song her own. However, Slash’s crack arrangement of Bill Broonzy’s nine-bar warhorse, “Key To The Highway” forgives those gaffes with the help of Iggy Pop channelling Lightning Hopkins on “Awful Dream.” “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” translates into contemporary funk, sleek and shiny. Demi Lovato is convincing with Slash deep in the groove of this Temptations’ classic.
The production is perfect…too perfect. A modern studio product, Orgy Of The Damned, serves its purpose, to be distributed for $15.00 at Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. (Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Peace, Equality N’ Tolerance) Festival franchise.
Greetings Michael:
My wife insists no one reads anything I write. I am glad to find that is not true. Slash's all-star romp was a snooze. Perhaps I was too hard on Beth Hart. I watched her performance of "I'd Rather Go Blind" with Jeff Beck at the Hollywood Bowl and thought it was the greatest thing I had heard from her. I am going to read PopMatters. Thank you for your kind note.
It may indeed be a lot of fun for casual blues-rock fans, but most of it bored me to tears. I panned it pretty hard in PopMatters, although there are some bright moments. I do like Iggy’s treatment of “Awful Dream”, Brian Johnson’s take on “Killing Floor”, and yes, even Beth Hart. I thought she put far more effort into her performance than poor Demi Lovato did with hers.
But hey, different takes is what keeps the world turning - love it!